Chained to You

Stranger Danger

"And you are?" I made sure to say it slowly and almost lazily. When his smirk faded, I knew my tone had worked it's magic. I studied the rest of his face; his hair was even more impeccable close up, off-white and gelled to perfection. His dark eyebrows were narrowed over his eyes, and his nose was centered nicely below. He tilted his head and gave me a lopsided grin.

"Obsessed with me already, are you?" I clenched my fists at my sides, refusing to get riled up by somebody who was so full of themselves. With a swish of her blonde hair, Valkyrie stepped between us and broke the tension.

"His name's Crow," she said. "Well technically his name is-"

"Crow. That's my real name." He was shooting daggers at Valkyrie, although she didn't seem to notice. She rolled her eyes.

"Stop distracting us and go do something useful," she told him with a wave of her hand. Crow didn't move.

"I thought you might have wanted to know how Kai was doing," he said shortly. I practically jumped off my stool but before I could say anything, he went on. "Christian worked his magic. He'll be back up and running in a couple days. And Kyrie, he wants you to show the newbie where she'll be staying." I clenched my teeth and turned away from him before he gave me that arrogant smile again. When I turned back around, he was gone and it was just the two of us in the kitchen again.

"What's his problem?" I asked her. She motioned with her hand to follow her out of the kitchen.

"C'mon, I'll explain on the way up." She led the way to an ancient, spiral staircase made of chestnut mahogany. I whistled as I guided my hand up the railing. Valkyrie chuckled and kept walking. "Crow used to be part of the umbra bellator - he was up until last year when they sent him on a suicide mission."

"How did he survive?" I couldn't wrap my head around it. That means he probably knew way more about that "hit list" than anyone else.

"Kai found him half-dead in a barn half a mile away from where he was supposed to be. He brought him back here and our healer, Christian nursed him back to life." Valkyrie paused with one hand on the rail. "Since then, he's broken off his pledge to those elitist rats."

"Elitist rats?" I echoed numbly.

"They think they can kill whoever they want just because they're considered 'mutations'," she spat and started climbing the stairs again.

"Mutation," I repeated. "That's what it said on my paper." My legs were getting tired and my head was struggling to process all the information being thrown at me, but I couldn't stop here. I needed answers.

"You're considered a mutation if one of your parents carries the warlock gene and the other one is a normal human," she explained. "In your case, your mother used magic and your father knew nothing of it." I couldn't help but think of the day they abandoned me. Was this the reason? Was this the answer to the question that had been replaying over and over in my head since then?

"Valkyrie, is that the only reason they're after me? Just because my father wasn't who they wanted him to be?" It was mind-boggling, it didn't make any sense. There were hundreds of "mutations" in that document, so why would they feel the need to protect me?

Valkyrie stopped at the top of the staircase and turned to me. She looked worried; her eyes wouldn't meet mine and her bottom lip was trembling.

"No...there's something else Kai told me not to tell you," she whispered. "But I think you deserve to know."